


The Reading of The Lightning Thief

by fullofcrazyness



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Child Abuse, F/M, I'll update this and characters as the story progresses, PJO reads PJO, Poseidon (Percy Jackson) is a Good Parent, Reading the Books, apollo is a good uncle/parent, percy and annabeth are in tartarus, talk about child abuse, theres angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-09-27 13:25:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17162771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fullofcrazyness/pseuds/fullofcrazyness
Summary: NOT ABANDONED CURRENTLY REWRITING LOST WORKThe Fates have decided to do something, Something that could change the course of the past and ultimately the future. They send nine demigods to the past to read a set of books with the gods and goddesses of Olympus.I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON THAT GOES TO RICK RIORDON  THE PICTURE OF THE COVER GOES TO WHOEVER MADE IT[demigods from after the MoA and gods/goddesses from before the lighting thief]I update every Saturday!!!





	1. The Beginning

Annabeth and Percy were stumbling through Tartarus. They were exhausted and in pain, but they couldn't stop. The monsters would catch up and kill them. And that would mean that Gaea would win, and they couldn't let that happen. 

Percy panted. "I'm... so... tired."

Annabeth helped support him, "Come on seaweed brain.... you can do it."

They kept making their way through the hell when a bright light appeared in front of them.

Percy instinctively pulled out his sword, Riptide. Annabeth pulled out her makeshift weapon made of bone. They watched as the light got brighter and bigger. It was warm and welcoming.

Percy let his arm drop and he stared at the light. Annabeth's arm followed suit. 

The light got closer, but they didn't run away. 

The light engulfed them, and they were gone

_____________________________________________________________________

Leo, Hazel, Jason, Frank, Piper and Nico were aboard the Argo II. 

They were sitting around the dining room table. It had been two days since Percy and Annabeth had fallen into hell. 

"How much longer till we reach Greece?" Jason asked.

"About two weeks," Nico said. 

Jason sighed.

They all missed the two Greek demigods. Nico was even sadder than he usually was. Percy was like his brother.

"I need to IM Thalia," Nico said, standing up. 

He was stopped as a bright, white light appeared in the center of the room. Everyone pulled out their weapons. The light didn't do anything, it just floated there. 

"Feels like home," Hazel whispered.

Everyone else felt it too, and unconsciously lowered their weapons. The light expanded, and they too were gone

___________________________________________________________________________

Thalia was in the hunter's camp. They were hunting a pack of hellhounds. 

"How close is the pack?" a hunter asked the dark hair lieutenant.

"Still a few miles away," Thalia answered.

The hunter nodded and went back to her tent. 

Thalia looked up as she heard footsteps approaching her. 

"M'lady," she said, standing up to the approaching goddess.

"Thalia." Artemis greeted, "How are you?"

Thalia sighed, "I'm worried about Percy and my other friends."

The moon goddess nodded, "I know. But they're strong, if anyone can do this, it's them."

Thalia smiled, "Than-" she was interrupted by the appearance of a white light. 

Everyone in the vicinity drew their bows and aimed it at the light. After a moment Artemis spoke.

"Lower your weapons. It's not a threat."

The hunters hesitantly obeyed. Thalia was mesmerized by the light. Artemis watched her closely, then the light. 

"Go Thalia. It's meant for you." 

Thalia nodded and ran into the light, and she was gone.


	2. Introductions

The gods and goddesses were in the middle of their annual Winter Solstice meeting when a bright light appeared in front of them. They all started at it and jumped when nine people were thrown out of it.

Apollo shot up and looked at the group. Someone was injured, and it was bad. He needed to know who. The other gods looked at him curiously, wondering what was up.

A black haired girl stood up and brushed herself off. Six were groaning on the floor. But the other two was what caught everyone's attention.

There was a boy who had black hair and green eyes, and a girl with blonde hair and grey eyes. They were looking around the room rapidly as if to find a way out. Their weapons were drawn as if expecting an attack.

The black haired girl looked around and saw the two.

"Percy! Annabeth!" she yelled, running to them.

The other five's heads whipped up and looked around.

The two spun around and pointed their weapons at the black haired girl.

The gods were stunned at the reactions of these two. Where and why did they learn to have reflexes like that?

"Perce? Annie?" the black haired girl asked.

The boy looked at her, then smiled. "Thals." Then he collapsed.

"Percy!" the blonde girl yelled, dropping next to him.

A pale boy stood up and ran over.

"Perce!" he yelled.

"Nico?" the blonde asked weakly.

"Yeah, it's me." the pale boy told her.

The blonde smiled, following the black haired boy's example, and collapsed. The black haired girl and the pale boy looked up, noticing where they were.

"Help them!" they yelled.

Apollo immediately jumped up, shrunk down to normal size, and ran to the group. He dropped to his knees and slid the rest of the way, now knowing who was hurt. He put his hands on the two teens. Closing his eyes, he whispered a prayer. Everyone was watching, holding their breath. 

It had been a few minutes, and Apollo wasn't done yet. Everyone was getting a little nervous. Why was it taking so long?

A minute later, Apollo summoned some ambrosia and nectar and carefully fed it to the two still unconscious teens. A few seconds later, they started to wake up. Apollo leaned back and sighed. Everyone else let out a breath of relief. They were glad they were fine, even if the gods had never met these teens before.

"Wh-Where are w-we?" the black haired boy asked, shakily sitting up.

"You are on Olympus." Zeus rumbled.

The boy looked up and everyone was surprised to see the glare he was giving off.

"Why are we-" he was cut off by the hand that was laid on his shoulder.

"Percy." the blonde said, rubbing his shoulder.

Percy glared for a second more, before lowering his head. A moment later he looked up again. "Thank you, lord Apollo," he said.

Apollo smiled, "No problem." He stood up and went back to his throne.

"Who are you?" Athena asked.

"Introduction time, yay." The pale boy whispered.

All nine stood up and face the Olympians.

"Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena." Athena smiled at her daughter.

"Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus." Said god nodded at his son.

"Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite." Aphrodite smiled.

"Frank Zhang... son of Mars."

The gods' forms flickered between Greek and Roman for a moment. When they settled back on Greek, they frowned. Why were the Romans and Greeks together?

"Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto."

"Jason Grace, son of Jupiter." Zeus stared at him in shock.

"Nico di Angelo," Zeus glared at Hades, who glared back, "Son of Hades."

"Thalia," she glared at anyone who dared ask for her last name. Now all the gods and goddesses knew who 'Thalia' was and were staring, wasn't she a tree? "Daughter of Zeus."

"Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon." Zeus and Hades glared at said god, who was smiling at his son.

"Am I the only one who didn't break the damn oath?!" Hades said, throwing his hands in the air.

"Yes," Demeter said. 

"I have a better question," Artemis said. Everyone looked at her. "Why are they here?"

Just then there was a flash of light and a note fluttered into Zeus's lap.


	3. I Accidentally Vaporize my Pre-Algebra Teacher

Zeus picked up the note and read it aloud.

_"Dear demigods and Olympians,_

_We, the three fates, have sent these demigods back in time to hopefully change the future, and prevent many unnecessary deaths. You will be reading a total of ten books._  
_Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief_  
_Percy Jackson and the_    _Sea of Monsters_  
_Percy Jackson and the Titans Curse_  
_Percy Jackson and the_   _Battle of the Labyrinth_  
_Percy Jackson and the_    _Last Olympian_  
_The Lost Hero_  
 _The Son of  Neptune_  
 _The Mark of Athena_  
 _The House of Hades_  
 _The Blood of Olympus_  
 _These books will tell the future and you can help prevent many disastrous things from happening. And demigods, there is a side effect from being sent back in time. Because we can only do so much, you will experience any pain described in the books.  Sorry Percy."_

Said demigod groaned

_"Have fun reading these books._

_The Fates"_

There was another flash of light and the ten books mentioned were sitting in front of Athena.

"Well, I guess I'll read first."

Zeus snapped his fingers and three couches appeared in front of the demigods. They all sat down.  _1st couch: Percy, Annabeth, Thalia. 2nd couch: Piper, Jason,Leo. 3rd couch: Frank, Hazel, Nico._ The immortals all shrunk down to normal height. Hera summoned some more couches and they all sat down in a circle.

"Everyone ready?" Apollo said wiggling his fingers.

Athena sighed and started reading.

**I ACCIDENTALLY VAPORIZE MY PRE-ALGEBRA TEACHER**

Everyone looked at Percy.

"How do you accidentally vaporize someone?" Leo asked.

"Very easily actually."

They looked at him for another moment before turning their attention back to Athena.

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

All the demigods nodded in agreement. The gods and goddesses looked mildly upset and worried. 

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:**

"DUCK AND COVER!" Thalia yelled.

"Why?" Hermes asked confused.

"It's Percy's advice. It usually doesn't work." Nico added.

**close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

"That's surprisingly good advice seaweed brain." Annabeth said.

"Thanks wise girl." Percy said.

**Being a half-blood is dangerous.**

"True." Leo said.

**It's scary.**

"That too." Jason added.

**Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

"You have no idea." Frank said.

 **If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.  
**  
**But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

"That's very dramatic." Aphrodite said.

Percy just shrugged.

 **Don't say I didn't warn you.  
**  
My name is Percy Jackson.

"No I thought it was Potato Jellybean." Leo said sarcastically. 

"You're both wrong its Peter Johnson." Dionysus said. 

 **I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.  
**  
**Am I a troubled kid?**

A chorus of 'yes's' were heard from the demigods.

"Thanks guys." Percy said, crossing his arms.

"You're welcome." Jason smiled back.

**Yeah. You could say that.**

"....YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO AGREE!" Percy said to the book.

Everyone started at him.

"You're talking to a book." Demeter said.

"Yes, so?"

"You need cereal." is all Demeter said.

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan— twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

"Sounds like fun." Annabeth and Athena said.

"It sounds like torture." The rest of the demigods, Apollo, Poseidon, and Hermes said.

**I know—it sounds like torture.**

Laughter rang around the room. 

**Most Yancy field trips were.**

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.  
**  
**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

"He sounds familiar." Leo said, thinking.

Percy smirked, knowing it was Chiron.

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

"That's not happening." Thalia said.

**Boy, was I wrong.**

"Point proven." Thalia said smugly.

"No one questioned you." Ares huffed. 

"So?"

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

Hermes, Apollo, and Leo were practically rolling on the floor.

"How?!" Hazel yelled.

Percy rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I just wanted to see if it was a real cannon. And the next thing I knew, the bus blew up."

"You really are something special." Piper said, staring at him.

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim.**

"That sounds fun." Poseidon said.

"Of course it does. You can't drown." Hades grumbled. 

"And the sharks wouldn't hurt you." Zeus added.

**And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**

"NO TELL US MORE!" Hermes yelled. 

"Maybe later." Percy said. 

Hermes nodded, satisfied. 

 **This trip, I was determined to be good.  
**  
**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

"That. Is disgusting." Aphrodite said wrinkling her nose. 

There were nods of agreement around the room. It did sound disgusting.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

"I wonder how Grover would like that description." Nico smirked.

Percy looked at him. "Don't you dare."

Nico chuckled and Percy looked scared. 

"Satyrs, always giving themselves away." Dionysus muttered, looking through his wine magazine.

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

"That's horrible. Nothing fun?" Leo asked.

"Nothing." Percy said.

Leo shuddered.

 **"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.  
**  
**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**  
  
**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**  
  
**"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

"Why'd you do that?" Ares asked.

"You're talking to the book now." Hephaestus said.

"No I'm not." Ares denied. 

"Yes you were." Percy said.

Ares glared at him and Percy just smiled. 

 **"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."  
**  
**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there.**

"Why would you hit a girl?" Artemis asked.

"She was a bully." is all Percy said.

Artemis looked at him for a moment before nodding. 

 _He's something special. Not like other men._ She thought.

**In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.  
**  
**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**  
  
**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

"Longer." All the gods and goddesses said together.

Then they all looked at each other while their children laughed.

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

"Hate teachers like that." Leo said.

"They really are horrible." Thalia agreed.

"Teachers are to be respected." Athena said aghast. 

"Teachers exist to torture." Hermes said, agreeing with the teenagers. 

Athena opened her mouth to argue but was cut of by Zeus.

"Keep reading, please." he said.

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

Hades's eyes widened.  _I didn't. Did I really? Poseidon is going to kill me._

Nico knew who that was and shook his head.  _Good job Dad._

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

All the demigods winced.

"That sounds horrible." Piper said. 

"It is." Percy and Leo said.

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

"Could you be anymore obvious Grover?" Thalia said, shaking her head. 

 **Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.  
**  
**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"**  
  
**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

"It always does." Percy muttered. 

Those sitting close to him heard him and laughed. 

 **The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.  
**  
**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**  
  
**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**  
  
**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**  
  
**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

Said gods shuddered. 

"That was not a pleasant experience." Demeter said.  

 **"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ..."  
**  
**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and—"**

"God!?" exclaimed the gods.

 **"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.  
**  
**"Titan,"**

"That's better." Zeus said, nodding his head.

Poseidon leaned over to Apollo and Hermes. "God of Drama." he whispered. Apollo had to cover his mouth to muffle his laugh. Hermes didn't care. 

"What's so funny?" Zeus asked.

"Oh nothing, my theatrical god." Hermes said.

Now everyone was laughing while Zeus pouted on the couch. 

**I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

Piper, Hazel and Aphrodite looked sick.

"Yes ew." Hazel said.

**"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

"You just summed up years of fighting in." Athena started, then counted the words. "In fifteen words."

"Yup."

 **Some snickers from the group.  
**  
**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

"Busted." Frank, Ares, and Hermes said.

**"Busted," Grover muttered.**

Again there was laughing.

 **"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.  
**  
**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**  
  
**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**  
  
**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

"Happy note?" Hephaestus asked.

"Yes, happy." Hades replied.

Everyone stared at him. 

"What?"

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**

"Like always." Artemis said.

"Heeeey." all the males in the room said. 

 **Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."  
**  
**I knew that was coming.**  
  
**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**  
  
**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

"Seriously! Why is he so familiar!" Leo asked.

Percy, Annabeth, Nico and Thalia looked at each other and started laughing.

"What?" Leo asked oblivious. 

"Nothing." Annabeth said. "Please keep reading mother."

 **"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.  
**  
**"About the Titans?"**  
  
**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**  
  
**"Oh."**  
  
**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**  
  
**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

"That's so you don't die when attacked by monster." Poseidon said.

"Yeah, I know." Percy said. 

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped. But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C– in my life. No—he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

"It's not that hard." Annabeth and Athena said.

"You all are super smart." Piper said, "Its easier for you."

All the other demigods nodded in agreement.

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.  
**  
**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

"That's boring." Ares said.

"We had nothing better to do." Percy said.

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

"I wonder what has you two at each other's throats." Aphrodite said pointing to Zeus and Poseidon.

They just shrugged. "How are we supposed to know?"

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse,**

"One on yours?" Apollo asked Hermes.

"It said TRYING to pickpocket. If she was mine, she'd have done it by now." Hermes said.

**and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.  
**  
**"Detention?" Grover asked.**  
  
**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."**

All the demigods snorted.

"Ain't that the truth." Nico laughed. 

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

"Typical satyr." Dionysus said, finishing his magazine. 

"Is he actually paying attention?" Jason whispered.

"No idea." Piper said.

**I didn't have much of an appetite,**

"That's a first." Thalia snorted.

**so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

"Mama's boy." Ares sneered.

"Yeah, I am. I love my mom. Got a problem with that?" Percy asked, glaring at the god of war.

Ares's sneer dropped, "Nope. None at all."

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

Leo and Hephaestus started thinking of ways to actually make these motorized cafe tables.

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

All of Grover's friends gritted their teeth. They didn't like this Nancy. **  
**

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

"She needs help and a makeover as soon as possible." Aphrodite said.  **  
**

Usually Piper didn't agree with her mom, but she did this time.

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

"You didn't hurt her did you?" Hazel asked.

"No." Percy smirked. "She just got a little wet."

The people who new the story chuckled a bit while everyone looked confused.

 **I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"  
**  
**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**  
  
**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**  
  
**"—the water—"**

**"—like it grabbed her—"**

"Cooool." Leo said.

Poseidon smiled. His son was powerful, and he hadn't even known about his power then.

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"  
**  
**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

Hermes gasped, "Never. Under any circumstances. Guess your punishment."

"Why?" Frank and Jason asked. 

"It makes it worse." Hermes replied.

 **That wasn't the right thing to say.  
**  
**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**  
  
**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."**

"That was very brave of him." Annabeth said.

"Too bad it didn't work." Percy said.

 **I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.  
**  
**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**  
  
**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**  
  
**"But—"**  
  
**"You—will—stay—here."**  
  
**Grover looked at me desperately.**  
  
**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**  
  
**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now."**  
  
**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**  
  
**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

"What does that look like?" The gods asked.

Nico's, and practically anyone whose been in battle with Percy, eyes widened. 

"You don't want to know." Nico said.

"It can't be that bad." Demeter said.

Percy smiled, then gave the gods that glare. They could have sworn that the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees. Then Percy stopped.

"Yeah. It was that bad." Hades said.

The demigods just nodded.

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**

"Monster." Poseidon groaned.

"Yup." Percy said. 

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

"Nope. That's not it." Annabeth said.

**I wasn't so sure.**

"He realizes it!" Thalia said, throwing her arms up.

 **I went after Mrs. Dodds.  
**  
**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

Everyone groaned. This was just great.

 **I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.  
**  
**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

"Is it ever that easy?" Leo asked.

The gods looked a bit guilty at that. They didn't like the dangerous lives their children had to lead.

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

"It never is." Percy grumbled.

Poseidon started at him. "What does that mean?"

"Oh nothing." Percy said, motioning for Athena to continue reading.

 **I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.  
**  
**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

"That's creepy." Hazel said.

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

"Monster." all the demigods said.

 **Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...  
**  
**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**  
  
**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

"HOLD THE PHONE!!!" Thalia yelled.

Athena looked at her. "What?"

"Percy actually said Ma'am?" Nico asked.

Athena looked at the page and nodded. "Yes."

The two pretended to faint. 

"Oh shut up you two." Percy laughed.

Thalia and Nico climbed off the floor and settled back on the couch. The gods just looked at the in amusement as Athena continued.

 **She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"  
**  
**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**  
  
**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**  
  
**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**  
  
**Thunder shook the building.**

All the gods looked at Zeus. 

"What?" he asked.

 **"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."  
**  
**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

"Of course you don't." Thalia joked. 

Percy just shrugged. Annabeth, sensing a bit of distress, moved closer to him. He smiled down at her and the tenseness left him. 

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room. Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

"It's a good book." Athena and Annabeth said.

All the other gods/goddesses and demigods didn't look at them.

Athena huffed and kept reading. 

 **"Well?" she demanded.  
**  
**"Ma'am, I don't..."**  
  
**"Your time is up," she hissed.**  
  
**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

"YOU SENT A FURY AFTER MY SON!?!" Poseidon yelled, getting ready to fight Hades.

Hades was hiding behind the couch he was sitting on. 

"Behold. The mighty god of the underworld." Nico said, shaking his head. 

"Dad I'm fine, sitting right here," Percy said. 

Poseidon glared at Hades for a second more, looked over and nodded and sat back down.

 **Then things got even stranger.  
**  
**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**  
  
**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**  
  
**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

"DODGE!!!" Poseidon, Hermes, Apollo, and the demigods yelled.

"Right here!" Percy yelled back.

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.  
**  
**My knees were jelly.**

"Oh, that feels weird," Percy said, poking his legs.

**My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

"Come on," Percy said, clutching his hands to his knees.

 **She snarled, "Die, honey!"  
**  
**And she flew straight at me.**  
  
**Absolute terror ran through my body.**

Percy jumped and his pulse picked up. He knew he had nothing to fear at the moment but his brain didn't acknowledge that. Annabeth put a calming hand on his leg, hoping it would comfort him a bit.

**I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

"That's natural?" Leo asked.

"Yup," Percy replied.

 **The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!  
**  
**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

Everyone shivered.

 **I was alone.  
**  
**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**  
  
**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**  
  
**My hands were still trembling .**

"Stahp!" Percy told his shaking hands.

**My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

Hermes and Apollo got this look on their face.

"No," Artemis said.

The two sunk down on the couch and pouted.

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

"No." Everyone said.

 **I went back outside.  
**  
**It had started to rain.**  
  
**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

"Who?" Ares asked.

**I said, "Who?"**

Everyone laughed as Ares and Percy glared at each other.

 **"Our teacher. Duh!"  
**  
**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**  
  
**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**  
  
**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**  
  
**He said, "Who?"**  
  
**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

"He needs lying lessons," Hermes muttered.

"Yes, they do." Dionysus agreed, shocking everyone.

 **"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."  
**  
**Thunder boomed overhead.**  
  
**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**  
  
**I went over to him.**  
  
**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

"Now Chiron can lie," Hermes said.

 **I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.  
**  
**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**  
  
**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**  
  
**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**  
  
**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at YancyAcademy. Are you feeling all right?"**

"Alright, that's the chapter," Athena said, closing the book. "Who's reading next?"

"I will," Thalia said.

Athena handed the book to the black haired girl. 

"This should be fun." She said smirking at Percy, who groaned.


	4. Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for missing last weeks update! Uni just started and I'm trying to get into the swing of things

**THREE OLD LADIES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH**

"What kind of title is that?" Thalia asked. 

The gods who got it looked to Poseidon to see what he would do.

Poseidon paled, "Please don't tell me it's what I think it is."

Percy pretended to zip his lips. Poseidon groaned.

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle.**

"Like when I woke up on that bus." Jason said. 

"Oh, that must've sucked," Leo said. 

**For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

"The Mist," Hephaestus said, playing with some wires and metal.

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

"You are," Nico said. 

"Thanks," Percy said sarcastically.

 **It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.  
**  
Almost.

"Grover." They all groaned.

"Can I have some of my kids teach them to lie?" Hermes asked Dionysus.

"Whatever." Dionysus.

 **But Grover couldn't fool me. When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.  
**  
**Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum.**

"No duh." Demeter said. 

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**

"Your dreams are always the worst," Annabeth said. 

"Yeah, we don't envy you," Thalia said, everyone else nodding along.

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the HudsonValley touched down only fifty miles from YancyAcademy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

Everyone looked at Poseidon and Zeus.

"What is up with you two?" Aphrodite asked.

"How would we know this hasn't happened yet," Zeus said.

Aphrodite shrugged.

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.  
**

Athena huffed. "You're not gonna pass with that attitude."

Percy shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time."

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

"It means drunkard," Annabeth said.

Everyone laughed.

 **The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to YancyAcademy.  
**  
**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**  
  
**I was homesick.**

"Mama's boy." Ares sneered. 

"Didn't we go over this already? So what." Percy said, rolling his eyes. 

"Oh you're asking for it punk." Ares said, starting to stand up.

"Oh no, you don't," Aphrodite said, pulling him back down. 

Ares settled for glaring at Percy from his couch. Percy smiled right back.

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

"That doesn't sound like Paul," Nico said. 

"This is before Paul," Percy said, with a dark look on his face.

All the demigods, except Percy, looked at each other. That didn't sound good. 

 **And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me.  
**  
**I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**  
  
**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**

"That's good." Frank said.

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room.**

"Why would throw a book?" Athena asked horrified. 

"It was getting to hard to read," Percy said. 

"Don't we all know the feeling." the demigods said.

**Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon,**

"He knows now." Thalia, Nico and Annabeth said.

"What does that mean?" Poseidon asked looking at the three.

"Oh nothing." Thalia said.

 **or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.** **I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**

Percy shook his body. "I don't like this side effect." 

Everyone looked at him sympathetically. 

"Oh wait till later, you all will feel it too," Percy said.

Everyone's eyes widened and shuddered.

 **I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.**   

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**

"Good." Athena huffed.

**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

"Aww, that's sweet," Aphrodite said.

Piper silently agreed with her.

 **I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.  
**  
**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "... worried about Percy, sir."**  
  
**I froze.**

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper,**

"Oh really?" Thalia smirked, "What about that one time wh-"

Percy put a hand over her mouth.

"We do not speak of that."

"But y-" Nico tried to say.

Percy did the same to him.

"Never."

**but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

"But still. It's rude." Artemis said.

"But he has a point." Apollo and Hermes said. The demigods nodded in agreement. 

 **I inched closer.  
**  
**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too—"**  
  
**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**

"Did he ever mature?" Frank asked Annabeth.

"Nope," Annabeth said.

"Thanks," Percy grumbled.

"Well, maybe a little," Annabeth said.

 **"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline— "  
**  
**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**  
  
**"Sir, he saw her... ."**  
  
**"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."**

"Hehe NOPE!" Percy said.

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

"Does he still blame himself for that?" Thalia asked.

Annabeth and Percy nodded sadly. 

"I'm gonna smack some sense into him next time I see him," Thalia promised. 

 **"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"  
**  
**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

"NOOOO!" Hermes yelled. "You broke rule #1! Never give away your position!"

 **Mr. Brunner went silent.  
**  
**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

Hermes sighed in relief, "Good. You saved yourself. There is hope for you yet."

"Shut up," Artemis said.

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**

"That's because it is Kelp Head," Thalia said. 

"Yeah yeah, I know," Percy said.

 **I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.  
**  
**A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.**  
  
**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**  
  
**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**

"What happened?" Hades asked. 

Percy and Annabeth looked to each other then to the immortals. "Spoilers."

 **"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."  
**  
**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**  
  
**"Don't remind me."**  
  
**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**  
  
**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**  
  
**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.**  
  
**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**  
  
**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**

"No." Everyone said. 

"Were never ready for tests," Hazel said.

 **I didn't answer.  
**  
**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**  
  
**"Just... tired."**  
  
**I turned so he couldn't read my expression,**

"Won't work. Satyrs read emotions." Dionysus said, summoning a new wine magazine.

**and started getting ready for bed.**

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.  
**  
**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**  
  
**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam,**

**"THREE HOURS?!?!" All the demigods yelled.**

"How did you live?" Apollo asked with wide eyes.

Percy shrugged. "Magic."

**my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**

"Is he still bad at talking with you guys?" Demeter said.

"Oh yeah." all the people who knew who she was talking about. 

"Cereal would fix that," Demeter said.

"NO CEREAL!" Hades yelled.

 **For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.  
**  
**"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best."**

Everyone winced.

"He needs to get better at that," Poseidon said. 

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

"That's gross," Piper said.

 **I mumbled, "Okay, sir."  
**  
**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**

"He is seriously bad at that." Hermes said, "My kids need to teach him how to approach you guys."

 **My eyes stung.  
**  
**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**  
  
**"Right," I said, trembling.**  
  
**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be—"**  
  
**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."**  
  
**"Percy—"**  
  
**But I was already gone.**

"Awww. It's good to be strange, normalness leads to sadness." Annabeth said.

"Did you seriously just quote Phil?" Percy asked.

"And I'm proud of it."

The others looked confused as to what they were talking about.

 **On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.  
**  
**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

"I wouldn't say nobodies." Zeus said.

 **They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.  
**  
**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

"Is it always like that?" Hephaestus asked.

"Yup," Leo said.

 **"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."  
**  
They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.

"That's not very nice," Aphrodite commented.

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had,**

"STALKER!" Nico yelled.

**so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers.**

"STALKER!" Thalia joined in.

**It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.  
**  
**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

"Oh, you must have scared him." Hades laughed. 

"Don't laugh at the poor satyr's feelings," Demeter said.

"Make me." Hades shot back.

 **Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?"  
**  
**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

Hermes groaned, "You never confess. That's rule #8."

"How many rules are there?" Jason asked.

"100." Hermes said, "All my kids learn them when they're claimed."

 **Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"  
**  
**"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**  
  
**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ..."**  
  
**"Grover—"**  
  
**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."**  
  
**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."**

"Yes, yes he is," Hazel said.

Hermes shook his head. "Why don't you have them learn to lie?" he asked Dionysus.

The wine god shrugged and flipped the magazine page.

 **His ears turned pink.  
**  
**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.**  
  
**The card was in fancy script,** **which was murder on my dyslexic eyes,**

"Why is it in fancy script?" Zeus asked Dionysus.

"It's fun to see them try and read it," Dionysus replied.

All the demigods glared at him.

**but I finally made out something like:**

**Grover Underwood  
**  
_**Keeper**_  
  
_**Half-Blood Hill**_  
  
_**Long Island, New York**_  
  
_**(800) 009-0009**_  
  
**"What's Half—"**  
  
**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address."**  
  
**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**

**"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."**

  "Not really a mansion." Piper smiled.  

 **He nodded. "Or ... or if you need me."  
**  
"Why would I need you?"

"Be nice to him." Demeter chided.

**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

"Good," Demeter said, nodding her head.

 **Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you."  
**  
**I stared at him.**  
  
**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.**  
  
**"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"**

"Monsters," Thalia said.

"Angry monsters," Nico added.

"The Furies," Annabeth said.

"From making stupid decisions," Leo said.

"Everything," Jason said.

The Olympians frowned. Were their children's lives really that bad?

 **There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.  
**  
**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.**

"It was hot out." Percy said. "Glad I didn't think about how hot it was or I'd be melting."

"You can't melt." Hazle pointed out.

"I can feel like I am." Percy pointed out.

"That's true," Apollo said.

"You are the sun god." Artemis said, "You practically control heat."

Apollo shrugged.

 **We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.  
**  
**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood-red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

"No." Poseidon whispered. "Is that who I think it is?"

Percy nodded and his dad paled. 

"You didn't tell me about this." Annabeth glared.

"I didn't want to worry you," Percy said.

 **I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.  
**  
**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**

Hades cowered on the couch as Poseidon glared at him. He didn't control the fates, but why would they go and see Percy? 

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**

All the demigods looked to Percy.

"How are you alive?" Frank asked.

"Honestly," Percy said. "I have no idea."

"That's not comforting," Poseidon said.

 **I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.  
**  
**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"**  
  
**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**  
  
**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

"That is not something to joke about," Hephaestus said.

All the gods nodded in agreement. 

 **"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."  
**  
**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.**  
  
**"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

"Yes get on the bus." Poseidon whispered. "Get on the bus."

"Dad." Percy said. "I'm fine. Sitting right here."

 Poseidon looked his son over and nodded, relaxing a bit. 

 **"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."  
**  
**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**  
  
**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic.**

Annabeth hugged Percy closer to her. 

"I'm fine Wise Girl," Percy whispered.

"And I'm very glad about that," she said.

**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla.**

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.  
**  
**The passengers cheered.**  
  
**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**  
  
**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

Percy started shivering. He felt cold and hot all at the same time. It was an uncomfortable feeling. 

"You okay?" Thalia asked.

"Yup." Percy said. "Fine and dandy."

 **Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.  
**  
**"Grover?"**  
  
**"Yeah?"**  
  
**"What are you not telling me?"**

"Everything," Piper said.

 **He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"  
**  
**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

**"Much worse," Hades said.**

"Are the fates under your control?"Poseidon asked.

"No," Hades said.

 "That was fun." Percy said. "Who's reading next?"

"I will," Nico said.

Thalia threw the book at his head but Nico caught it. "Next time pine tree."


	5. Grover Unexpectedly Loses his Pants

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry about the lack of updates, college is stressful this semester (I'm taking 16 credit hours so it's a lot) and I'm working every day I'm not in school. But I promise this story (And any others) Are not abandoned. I just might not be uploading as consistently as I would like to

**GROVER UNEXPECTEDLY** **LOSES HIS PANTS**

Everyone busted out laughing.

"How?" Frank asked.

"You'll see." Percy said, chuckling.

"Tell us." Hermes pleaded.

"The book will tell." Percy said cheekily.

**Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.**

"That wasn't nice." Hera sneered. 

"He was creeping me out." Percy said.

"Doesn't give you an excuse to abandon your friends." Hera said.

 **I know, I know. It was rude. But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead** **man, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to he sixth** **grade?"**

"Nope I would leave to." Leo said.

"Thank you!" Percy said. "Someone agrees with me."

"Honestly most of us would if someone was doing that." Nico said.

 **Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we** **got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom.**

**Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.**

**"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," I told the driver.**

Nico smirked. "Wait till I tell the Stolls."

"We moved." Percy stated.

Nico pouted.

"Most of us know your address anyway." Thalia said.

"What?" Percy asked. "Why?"

"Your mom is great. It's a safehouse." Thalia said.

Percy smiled. "Alright then."

**A word about my mother, before you meet her.**

"Amazing." Nico said.

"Brilliant." Annabeth added. 

"Wonderful." Percy said.

"Beautiful." Poseidon said.

The gods looked at him in shock. Did the sea god still love this women?

 **Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, which just proves my theory** **that the best people have the rottenest luck. Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was** **five,**

Artemis glared at Zeus who looked down sheepish. 

 **and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. She wanted to be a novelist,** **so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creativewriting** **program. Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take** **care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.**

"That poor woman." Athena said. "She should have been able to go to school."

"She started night classes a few years ago." Percy said.

"And started her first book about a year ago." Annabeth added.

"Good." Athena said.

**The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.**

Poseidon smiled at the memory. Sally truly was beautiful.

 **I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his** **smile. My mom doesn't like to talk about him because it makes her sad. She has no pictures.**

 **See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a** **secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never** **came back.**

**Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.**

"Clever." Hermes said.

"Very." Artemis agreed. 

"How did you meet her?" Athena asked. 

"I was very lucky." Poseidon said. 

 **She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her** **own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.**

"Yeah I wasn't." Percy said.

"We know." Thalia said.

 **Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, then** **showed his true colors as a world-class jerk. When I was young, I nicknamed him Smelly Gabe.**

"Hate him." Thalia, Nico and Annabeth growled. 

"Why?" Aphrodite asked.

The three didn't answer but glowered at the floor. The others who didn't know about Gabe looked at each other confused. 

Poseidon looked worriedly at his son. Was his step-father horrible? "Percy?"

"It's fine in the end." is all Percy said.

That didn't comfort anyone.

**I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.**

Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis, Hera and Demeter wrinkled their noses. That was absolutely disgusting. 

 **Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated** **her, the way he and I got along ... well, when I came home is a good example.**

"What happened?" Thalia asked Percy seriously. 

"The book explains." Percy said, not looking at his friends. He had realized what was about to come out.

"Read Nico." Piper commanded. 

 **I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly** **Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips** **and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.**

**Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."**

**"Where's my mom?"**

**"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"**

"Really?!" Hermes exclaimed. "You just got home!"

Percy shrugged. That was normal. 

 **That was it. No Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?** **Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tuskless walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about** **three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or** **something.**

"Definitely not." Aphrodite said.

 **He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I** **don't know why he hadn't been fired long before. He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending** **the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course. Always beer. Whenever I** **was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds. He called that our "guy secret."** **Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.**

The room was silent and Percy braced himself for the incoming storm.

"WHAT!?" Thalia, Nico and Annabeth screamed. 

Poseidon paled and looked over his son.

"You never told us that." Thalia whispered.

Jason, Piper, Leo, Frank and Hazel looked at their friend sadly. They never would have known had they not read these books.

"Percy." Poseidon said quietly, none of the other gods daring to break the moment. "Did-Did he ever hurt you?"

Percy shifted under the gazes of everyone in the room. He hesitated a moment.

"Percy please." His dad pleaded.

"..yeah." Percy whispered just enough for everyone to hear. 

Poseidon closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm himself. He didn't need any natural disasters today. Percy's friends look murderous. No one hurt their friend, if they did, they got hurt themselves. 

Poseidon leaned over to Apollo and whispered something in the god's ear. Apollo nodded. Percy sighed knowing what was going to happen after this chapter was over. 

"Please continue now." Apollo said to Nico, who nodded, and started reading with a strained voice. 

**"I don't have any cash," I told him.**

**He raised a greasy eyebrow.**

**Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell** **should've covered up everything else.**

Athena's eyes widened. "Your mother is a genius."

"She really is." Percy smiled. 

 **"You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven** **bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am** **I right, Eddie?"**

 **Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come** **on, Gabe," he said. "The kid just got here."**

"At least he's ... decent." Piper scowled.

**"Am I right?" Gabe repeated.**

**Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.**

"Disgusting." Artemis said, while the other females nodded in agreement. 

Poseidon scowled. This man was not a person his son should be around. 

 **"Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I** **hope you lose."**

"He will." Dionysus said. 

"Good." Poseidon said.

"He's paying attention?" Percy asked Annabeth, who laughed.

**"Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!"**

**I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was** **Gabe's "study." He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving** **my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the** **place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.**

"That's horrible." Hazel said.

Percy shrugged. "It wasn't too bad. After a few days the smell went away."

Hazel scowled. "It's still horrible."

Percy just smiled and motioned for Nico to continue reading.

**I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home.**

"Love the sass." Thalia said. 

"I am persassy for a reason." Percy said.

"The sassiest of them all." Nico said. "Now I'm trying to read."

 **Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds, or the sound of that** **old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.**

**But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak.**

"Oh that's a weird feeling." Percy said, looking at his shaking legs. "I don't like this."

Annabeth chuckled. "It only lasts as long as described."

"Good for that." Percy said.

 **I remembered Grover's look of panic—how** **he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me.**

Percy suppressed a shudder. Poseidon looked at him worriedly. If these tiny descriptions were affecting his son, would the more detailed ones be worse?

 **I felt** **like someone—something—was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs,** **growing long, horrible talons.**

**Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?"**

**She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.**

Percy gave an inaudible sigh as his tension melted away.

"Mama's boy." Ares sneered.

"There is nothing wrong with that." Hera shot back. 

Ares just muttered under his breath while Nico continued reading. 

 **My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room. Her eyes sparkle and** **change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in** **with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's** **seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad. I've never heard her raise her voice or say an** **unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.**

"That women has strength." Artemis noted.

"A very smart women too." Athena added. 

"She is." Said the demigods that knew her.

**"Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!"**

**Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world:** **chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd** **brought me a huge bag of "free samples," the way she always did when I came home.**

"Oh you're lucky." Leo said. "I don't get candy."

"I'll share next time." Percy said.

There was a round of cheers from all the demigods at that.

"You all need cereal." Demeter muttered.

 **We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran** **her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't** **mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. But was I okay?**

**Was her little boy doing all right?**

**I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really** **glad to see her.**

Percy smiled. He missed his mom. He hadn't seen her in what? A couple of months? A year? He hoped he could get back home soon.

**From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally—how about some bean dip, huh?"**

**I gritted my teeth.**

So did everyone in the room. 

 **My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to** **some jerk like Gabe.**

"She is now." Annabeth said. "Well not a millionaire. But definitely someone a whole lot better."

"Very true." Percy said.

"Who did she marry?" Poseidon asked, wondering who this man the two were talking about.

"It's in the books." Percy said. "Probably, but he's great."

Poseidon nodded, accepting the answer. For now.

 **For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't** **too down about the expulsion. I'd lasted almost the whole year this time. I'd made some new** **friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the** **headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost** **convinced myself. I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy** **Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad.**

**Until that trip to the museum ...**

**"What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets.**

**"Did something scare you?"**

**"No, Mom."**

**I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn,** **but I thought it would sound stupid.**

"Should have told her." Percy grumbled. 

"Yes you should have." Came the chorus from his friends.

"Thanks guys." Percy deadpanned, smiling.

"But... She's a mortal." Hermes said confused. 

"Clear sighted." Nico said.

The gods nodded in realization. 

**She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me.**

**"I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach."**

**My eyes widened. "Montauk?"**

"I love that place." Percy and Poseidon said, then smiled at each other.

"Like father like son." Aphrodite said smiling.

**"Three nights—same cabin."**

**"When?"**

**She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."**

**I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers, because** **Gabe said there wasn't enough money.**

**Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"**

"Let me fight him." said Jason, surprisingly. "No one should treat a woman like that."

Piper smiled at him, glad that she was his girlfriend. She had no doubt that he wouldn't do anything he could to keep her safe.

Artemis looked at him. Maybe not all males were as horrible as she thought. 

 **I wanted to punch him, but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a** **deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we** **would get out of here.**

**"I was on my way, honey," she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip."**

**Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"**

**"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go."**

"He better." Aphrodite said. "Mother-son time is very important."

Poseidon nodded in agreement. No person should ever deny a mother time with her child.

 **"Of course he will," my mom said evenly. "Your stepfather is just worried about money.** **That's all. Besides," she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough** **seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works."**

"Bribery always works." Apollo and Hermes said together.

"But a wife should not have to bribe her husband." Hera sniffed. 

 **Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip ... it comes out of your clothes budget,** **right?"**

Everyone flinched at the shriek that emitted from Aphrodite.

"A CLOTHES BUDGET!? I am taking this poor woman shopping." the love goddess said.

The demigods laughed. Aphrodite had never met a stubborn Sally Jackson. 

**"Yes, honey," my mother said.**

**"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back."**

**"We'll be very careful."**

**Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip ... And maybe** **if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game."**

**Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.**

"DO IT!" Ares yelled.

"Wish I did. But I wanted to go to the beach." Percy said.

"Whimp." Ares muttered. 

**But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad.**

**Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought?**

**"I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game.** **Please go back to it right now."**

**Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.**

Athena snorted. "There is no way I blessed this... pig with a brain."

 **"Yeah, whatever," he decided.** **He went back to his game.**

 **"Thank you, Percy," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about...** **whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?"**

"Seriously." Athena said. "How did you find this woman?"

"I have no idea." Poseidon said. "But I am very glad I did."

Aphrodite squealed but was shushed by Zeus who was sitting right next to the goddess.

 **For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes—the same fear I'd seen in Grover during** **the bus ride—as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air.** **But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and** **went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.**

**An hour later we were ready to leave.**

There was a chorus of cheers. 

"Leave!" Apollo said. "To the beach!"

"I want to go to the beach now." Hermes said.

"Maybe later." Poseidon said. "But we're reading now."

 **Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the** **car. He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking—and more important, his '78** **Camaro—for the whole weekend.**

 **"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little** **scratch."**

"Not like he's going to be the one driving." Frank said. "He's twelve."

Percy laughed and shook his head at the confused faces.

**Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve.**

And now everyone else was laughing.

 **But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much** **as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.**

"How?" Hades asked.

Percy shrugged. "He would."

Poseidon frowned at that.

 **Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I** **can't explain. As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the** **bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement** **toward Gabe. The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him** **flying up the staircase as if he'd been shot from a cannon.**

"That was very powerful." Zeus said, narrowing his eyes at Percy.

Poseidon caught the look and glared at him. "We are not harming my son."

"I didn't say we were going to." Zeus said, but looked away.

Nico continued reading.

 **Maybe it was just the wind, or some** **freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out.**

**I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.**

"I would have done the same." Leo said.

"I think all of us would." Nico said.

"True." Leo affirmed.

 **Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel** **box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and** **spiders in the cabinets, and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in.**

Athena and Annabeth shuddered. "Spiders."

"Cold water?" Everyone else asked.

"Yup." The two water-oriented people said.

**I loved the place.**

"Of course you do." Annabeth said.

 **We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never** **exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my** **dad.**

 **As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work** **disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.**

"Beautiful." Poseidon whispered.

Aphrodite smiled at the love the sea god still held for this mortal. True love is truly beautiful.

 **We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning** **routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly** **beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.**

"Okay what's with the blue food?" Jason asked.

"Weelll..." Thalia started.

"It explains." Nico said. "Shush."

**I guess I should explain the blue food.**

**See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed** **like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She** **baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips** **and brought home blue candy from the shop. This—along with keeping her maiden name,** **Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano—was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by** **Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.**

"You have an obedience streak in a sea of defiance." Thalia said.

"That was poetic." Percy said. "Sure you're not a daughter of Apollo." 

"Oh shush." Thalia said grinning.

 **When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me** **stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told me** **about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy** **shop.**

"She has her dream now." Annabeth told Percy.

"Good." Percy said.

 **Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came** **to Montauk—my father. Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things** **she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.**

 **"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his** **black hair, you know, and his green eyes."**

The gods and demigods looked between Percy and his dad.

"He's a mini Poseidon." Hades said.

"That he is." Apollo said. 

"Cool." Hermes and Leo said.

 **Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He** **would be so proud."**

"I am." Poseidon said. 

"You don't even know what he's done yet." Hades said.

"Doesn't mean I can't be proud." Poseidon said. "I can see how he interacts with his friends. I can tell he's a good person. That is something to be proud of."

Percy smiled at his dad. It wasn't everyday your godly parent said something like that.

 **I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy** **with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.**

"It doesn't matter to me." Poseidon smiled.

The other gods looked at him. How could he express his emotion so easily? They all struggled with things like that.

**"How old was I?" I asked. "I mean ... when he left?"**

**She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this** **beach. This cabin."**

**"But... he knew me as a baby."**

**"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before** **you were born."**

 **I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember ... something about my father. A** **warm glow. A smile.**

"You visited." Hephaestus said, tinkering with something.

"I did." 

"Humph."

 **I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd** **felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me ...**

 **I felt angry at my father. Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean** **voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with** **Smelly Gabe.**

"I'm not angry." Percy said at his father's concerned face. "Not anymore."

**"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?"**

**She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.**

**"I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think ... I think we'll have to do something."**

**"Because you don't want me around?"**

"That was not kind." Hera scolded. 

"I wasn't thinking." Percy said.

"Obviously." Thalia said.

**I regretted the words as soon as they were out.**

"Good." Hera huffed.

 **My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I—I** **have to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away."**

 **Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said—that it was best for me to leave** **Yancy.**

**"Because I'm not normal," I said.**

**"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are. I** **thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe."**

**"Safe from what?"**

"Monsters." Jason said.

"Quests." Frank said.

"Death." Hazel added. 

The demigods all nodded in agreement. It was all true. 

The gods frowned. 

 **She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me—all the weird, scary things that** **had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget.**

 **During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the** **teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told** **them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.**

Poseidon wondered why he would send a Cyclops to keep an eye on his son. He could easily enough disguise himself as a mortal to look out for him. Maybe he had been busy.

 **Before that—a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me** **down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick** **me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death** **with my meaty toddler hands.**

The god's eyes widened at the display of strength. Many of them were thinking this child to be a threat to them. But they couldn't do anything about it here.

 **In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced** **to move.**

 **I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art** **museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword.** **But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to** **Montauk, and I didn't want that.**

"So you risked you and your mother's safety for a beach trip?" Piper asked.

Percy looked down and blushed. "I didn't know it was quite that serious at the time."

Piper sighed but nodded. It was true after all. 

 **"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," my mom said. "They told me that was a** **mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy—the place your father wanted to send you. And** **I just... I just can't stand to do it."**

**"My father wanted me to go to a special school?"**

**"Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp."**

"CAMP HALF BLOOD!" All said campers screamed.

 **My head was spinning. Why would my dad—who hadn't even stayed around long enough to** **see me born— talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she** **ever mentioned it before?**

 **"I'm sorry, Percy," she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I—I** **couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good."**

**"For good? But if it's only a summer camp ..."**

**She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more** **questions she would start to cry.**

**That night I had a vivid dream.**

"Your dreams are the worst." All the demigods said. 

"Are they really that bad?" Apollo asked.

"Yes." Percy said.

"How often do you have them?" the sun god asked.

"All the time." Percy said.

"Even during naps?" Hermes asked.

Percy nodded.

"Must not get much sleep then." Hermes noted. 

"Not really no." 

The two gods just hummed leaving everyone else to guess what they were thinking.

 **It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle,** **were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf. The eagle swooped down and slashed the** **horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings.**

"You are really mad at each other." Athena said.

The two gods just shrugged. How could they know?

 **As they** **fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth,** **goading the animals to fight harder.** **I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in** **slow motion.**

"Hate that feeling." Leo, Jason and Nico said.

 **I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's** **wide eyes, and I screamed, No!** **I woke with a start.**

 **Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses.** **There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot** **waves pounding the dunes like artillery.** **With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane."**

"Smart woman." Athena said. 

 **I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the** **ocean seemed to have forgotten. Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry,** **tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.**

Percy rubbed his arms trying to make the feeling go away. It didn't help much.

 **Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice—someone yelling,** **pounding on our cabin door.**

"Grover?" Annabeth asked. 

"Yup." Percy said. 

 **My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.** **Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't... he** **wasn't exactly Grover.**

**"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?"**

"I wasn't." Percy said.

"That much is obvious." Thalia said.

**My mother looked at me in terror—not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.**

**"Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't** **you tell me?"**

**I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.**

**"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you tell her?"**

**I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him** **perfectly. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of** **the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on—and where his legs should be ... where his** **legs should be ...**

"This is taking you a long time to process." Piper noted.

"I was shocked." Percy said. "Didn't expect it."

 **My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: "Percy. Tell me** **now!"**

 **I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom** **stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.**

**She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. Go!"**

**Grover ran for the Camaro—but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his** **shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to** **me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.** **Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.**

"That's the end of that." Nico said. "Now I'm hungry."

Poseidon looked to Apollo who nodded. Percy groaned internally as they looked to him.

"Alright alright lets go." He said standing up. 

The two gods nodded and led him out of the room. 

The other just watched them leave. 

"So food?"


	6. Break 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SO SORRY FOR THE LACK OF UPDATES! ...again. College and work adds up to be a lot and I'm getting really busy, BUT HERE'S THE NEXT CHAPTER
> 
> TW: Talk of child abuse

 

"Sit down there," Apollo said, pointing to a bed. 

"Is this necessary?" Percy asked, doing as told. 

"Please," Poseidon said. "I need to know what he did to you."

Percy sighed but nodded. If it would bring his dad comfort then let it happen. 

"Alright this might tingle a bit but don't worry," Apollo said walking over. "Lay down."

Percy did as told and laid down on the bed. Apollo placed his hands on the boy's chest and stomach and closed his eyes. He started muttering under his breath and his hands started glowing. The glow spread to Percy and went to different parts of his body. Percy closed his eyes and tried to relax. After a few minutes Apollo opened his eyes and removed his hands. The glow faded and a paper appeared in the air. Apollo grabbed it and read it over, eyes widening at the length of the list.

"What is it?" Poseidon asked worried. 

Apollo was muttering under his breath. "Poison. More poison. Broken bones. Fire. Lava. Holy crap kid."

Percy looked down. The past few years hadn't been fun.

"This reading is not going to be fun for you is it," Apollo stated.

"Nope," Percy said. "The last five years has been from quests anything before that, well."

Apollo nodded and looked back earlier, getting more and more upset. Gabe was a dead man. 

"I will kill him," Apollo said.

Percy and Poseidon looked at him shocked. Apollo usually wasn't violent. The sun god shoved the paper at the sea god who read it over. He too, looked more and more upset. 

"And you never told anyone about this?" he asked when he was done. 

Percy shook his head. 

"And why not?" Apollo asked.

Percy looked down.

"Percy," Poseidon said.

"He said he would kill me if I did," Percy whispered. 

Poseidon closed his eyes and tried to control his temper. He did not need to flood anything today. 

"Okay. Okay." Apollo said, calming down a bit. "There is some lasting damage. A few wrongly healed broken bones. Do you want me to fix them?"

Percy nodded. "Please."

Apollo nodded. Percy laid down and he got to work. A few minutes later it was done and all the badly/wrongly healed injuries were fixed. 

"Thank you," Percy said. 

"No problem." Apollo smiled. "Now why don't we go get food."

Percy nodded and walked out.

"Thank you. Apollo." Poseidon said.

"No problem uncle P," Apollo said. 

Poseidon nodded and walked out after his son. Apollo sighed, he liked this kid and was getting unusually protective, like he was his own son. He shook his head and walked out of the room to the kitchens where everyone else was eating.


	7. NOTE

Okay, so I was coming to update this story and guess what I find? So for some context, I write on Wattpad and copy and paste from My Works. Well, I go to get the next chapter and everything for this story is gone. Just disappeared. So while I figure this out I will not be able to update this story until I know what happened to the rest of my writing. I guess if worse comes to worst I have to rewrite everything. But I'm hoping I don't have to do that. I'm sorry about this. Hopefully, I can update soon.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wattpad update thingy

alrighty  
looks like I'm going to have to rewrite everything  
Wattpad hasn't answered me and it's been like 3 weeks and I've heard nothing  
I ask for a couple of weeks to get some chapters up and ready before I start posting again, but I will be finishing this story, just in a slightly longer time frame than I anticipated. I'm also going to be moving all of my writing from wattpad into google docs so it doesn't get lost again which it going to take some time. I have so many half-finished stories.   
So it'll be about a month or so before I update again but this story is not abandoned, I'm just rewriting a lot of stuff.  
Thanks for your patience!


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